


love left on Telforeah

by Shyaa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Divergent, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Pining, Unresolved Romantic Tension, a love bug bites keith, pining lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 14:52:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11946582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shyaa/pseuds/Shyaa
Summary: "Nooo-" Lance's eyes go wide, he even blinks a couple times."Yup, Pidge and I almost cried when he put it on." Keith laughs, probably remembering the sight."Where do you even find a swimming cap for mustaches?" Lance wonders out loud, looking back at his teammate. Keith laughs and Lance keeps looking."When it comes to Coran, who knows?" Keith agrees with a slight laugh at the end of his sentence. Despite his words, Lance notices how his eyes sparkle with admiration, conveying just how fond Keith is of Coran. Though when Keith focuses his gaze back on Lance he turns away, making sure he doesn't see the same thing in his eyes.





	love left on Telforeah

**Author's Note:**

  * For [katsukiy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katsukiy/gifts).



> This fic takes place right after season two episode seven of Voltron legendary defender and would make more sense if you watched the episode before reading this fic. I'm aware of season three recently coming out and the changes that follow but for story purposes, I've decided for this au to take place at this point. This is not my original idea so I can not take creative ownership of the love bug idea, but all the plot, ideas, and writing are all my own. I do not think this is what happened between episode seven and eight of season two and you shouldn't either, this was just a piece of writing I wrote for my own enjoyment and it would make me happy if you enjoyed it too.

"Land? But we need to find the blade of Marmora base, I thought you said you were gonna plot a course?" Shiro reaches for Coran almost desperately.

"Shiro, I know you really want to get there, but I forgot to mention I need time to fix the teludav. I need to completely shut down the Castle’s main energy, or I'll fry myself like a Balmeran on a hot day. Just because the planet is a living organism doesn't mean it doesn't get hot." Coran says, quickly making a joke out the situation. 

Shiro sighs, probably understanding it must be done, and steps back from Coran; Lance can see the dark bags under his eyes from where he's standing next to Pidge. He glances at Keith, knowing that Shiro and him are really close, only to find him already giving their leader a worried look, and just as expected he speaks up.

"Okay, Coran, land us on the next safest planet," he turns to Shiro. "Shiro, I think you should get some rest." Everyone on the main deck of the Castle murmurs in agreement to Keith's comment, including Lance.

"Yeah man, you said you didn't take a nap, but you look like you really need one," Hunk speaks up as well, always the one to be concerned for others.

"Fine, fine. I'll take a-nap," Shiro's tired voice speaks, saying the word nap like it's foreign to him, adding to the effect as he leaves the room by giving everyone a sleepy smile before disappearing behind the closing doors. 

Coran then turns towards the control panel, probably inputting the coordinates for a safe planet to land on, while the rest of team Voltron seem to go about their own business. Hunk also leaves the room, probably heading to the kitchen to recreate his ‘cooking masterpiece' or whatever he called it on the way back to the castle from the space mall. Lance even distinctly remembers Hunk muttering ‘Gordon Ramsay ain't got shit on me' on his way out.  
Lance snickers at the thought and glances at Pidge. She's mournfully eye-balling the game they just bought from the space mall, and Lance could almost swear he saw a dramatic tear there.

To be quite honest, Lance wasn’t really into that game. I mean yeah he heard of it, he even thinks his younger brother was obsessed with it, but he had no real interest in it. But seeing how hyped Pidge was after seeing that game in the store made him want to play it with her, just to get her away from this whole saving the galaxy business. It wasn't too long ago he found out she was not only a girl but a bit younger than the rest of them, despite her personality. He was just hoping maybe this game could allow her, and even him, some sense of normalcy. 

Lance sighs and is about to say something to try and cheer her up when a small shriek comes from the other side of the room. All heads whip around to find Allura, wide eyed, staring at her reflection in a mirror she has pulled up on the main controls. She turns her face away, looking quite embarrassed as she cautiously tries to leave to room.

"Uh, I- um, must leave now, to ugh- yes, so, goodbye." And with that Allura bolts out of the room to change her horrific hair style.

"In all honesty, I thought she knew her hair was like that." Lance turns to the sound of Pidge’s voice from behind him. He nods in agreement, he thought Allura looked pretty cute with her hair sticking up in all different directions anyway, but just as he was about to voice his opinion-  
"She looked pretty good to me," Keith admits from, you guessed it, the corner of the room. Lance rolls his eyes, subconsciously getting mad at Keith's attention always being on the princess.

"Oh, like you know anything about style," Lance pauses for dramatic effect, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans forward, "mullet." He musters up his favorite shit eating smile, the one he knows Keith hates. At the mention of his hair cut Keith abruptly stands up, hands up in the air in surrender.

"That's it, I'm shaving my head, I can't take it," he shouts dramatically, turning to leave the room. At his words, Lance panics. "I'm shaving it all off, I’m telling you. Coran, do you have a razor and a hat?" Keith exclaims. He’s only trying to egg him on, of course, but Lance can’t help but to take him seriously. Lance only picks on his hair to annoy him in the first place, but at the mention of his mullet being shaved off, he is struck with the quite honestly annoying knowledge of having involuntarily grown attached to it.

"Wait, I-" Lance starts, only to be interrupted by Pidge, eyes sparkling and smile stretched from ear to ear.

"Can I do it?" She pleads. Of course, that's why she looks so excited, Lance thinks to himself.

"All of you stop your gibber gabbing, we've made it," Coran calls from where he's steering the castle, but what Lance is really focused on is the beautiful planet they seem to be approaching.

"It's-" Pidge begins, but is cut off by Keith. "Beautiful," he admits, in complete awe, and damn, so is Lance. But this planet really looks amazing, despite being on the smaller side - and according to Coran, it isn't even a planet at all.

"This is Telforeah (pronounced tell-for-ah) and although it looks like one, it is not a planet, not exactly. Long ago, this used to be a large part of a planet that somehow survived when the original planet died. Several years later it became somewhat of what you humans call a Dwarf planet." The mention of Dwarf planets reminds him of the planet Pluto back in his solar system, back on Earth. Lance would have fought anyone who said it wasn't an official planet, he nostalgically remembers.

"Nothing inhabits this planet but wild life. Vast oceans and forests with no living things but animals, bugs, and plants. Not to mention that Telforeah is still surrounded by the debris of the planet it once was. Making it pretty hard to find." Coran stops to think before continuing. "Now that I think about it, not many know about this wonderful place."

"Well that's perfect, this is the best place to camp out until you fix the teludav, and even restock our inventory," Keith exclaims, and he has a point. This place really is the best place to hide.

"My eyes hurt, it's so beautiful I might cry. A scientific impossibility right before my eyes. Coran, you have to explain to me how this happened. How didn't this piece of the planet sustain any injury, how is it still functioning? Does it have its own gravitational pull?" Pidge gushes as she bounces around the main deck, observing the planet before rushing to Coran's side prying for answers. Lance would almost feel bad for him if Coran wasn't also reveling in Pidge’s curiosity.

"Welp, I'm gonna get my swim trunks,” Lance shouts, interrupting his friends. “Have fun talking nerd you two." He glances at Keith from the corner of his eye. "And Keith," he adds, then leaves the room trying embarrassingly hard not to skip away from the three. He’s feeling far more excited than he'd like to admit about landing on this particular planet. It looks like Earth, he thinks. Sure, it's tiny and has a bunch of the remaining planet around it, but it has an ocean. And not like that mermaid village they crashed on. Terfor- whatever it’s called had a beach, and forests. Although Lance likes mermaids just as much as the next guy, he'd pass up any beautiful fish with gills for a least a taste of home anytime. Even though his family isn't on this planet, Lance can't hold in his excitement.

 

**

 

Well, this isn't what one would expect when Allura said let's all go to the beach, Lance thinks as he stares at the scene before him. 

When you think beach you think swimsuits, water guns, bonfires, and swimming. But what Lance is looking at deeply scares him: Pidge is sitting to his right in a pair of shorts and a way too baggy shirt, rubbing so much sunscreen on that Lance doubts she has enough skin for it all. Not only that but Pidge has sunglasses, a sun umbrella for shade and somehow some kind of battery powered fan? Lance just stares at her like she’s the only alien inhabiting this planet, but she just looks up at him and shrugs.

"What?" She questions like it isn't obvious. Lance just gestures to her, well, everything. She just shrugs again. "When you're as pasty and white as I am then we'll talk, Cuban boy," and with that, she continues applying sunscreen. Believe it or not, that isn't the oddest part. Allura is in some Altean get up that pairs with a rope-like thing attached to a stick as she jogs towards the water shouting with it over her head. Hunk isn't too far from Pidge, wearing his own swim trunks along with a floaty around his waist, two around his arms and some sea creature floaty tucked under his arm as he toes the water like it might bite him. Surprisingly and quite ironically, Coran jumps out causing Hunk to fall into the water, floatable toys flying everywhere. The most unbelievable thing of it all, far at sea you can see the cow they had gotten from the space mall surfing to what looked like to Lance to be an impressive wave. Watching this all unfold before him Lance doesn't notice Keith approaching him.

"Is that Kaltenecker?" Lance says under his breath, more to himself than anything. I haven't ever surfed that well and he's a cow? Lance thinks to himself.

"Yeah, he wouldn't stop mooing until we got him out there." Lance jumped a little but laughed as Keith spoke from beside him.  
"If you think it's weird now, look closer." Lance turns to look at Keith to see he's pointing at Hunk and Coran. He turns back, squinting his eyes to find what he’s talking about, until.

"Nooo-" Lance's eyes go wide, he even blinks a couple times.

"Yup, Pidge and I almost cried when he put it on." Keith laughs, probably remembering the sight.

"Where do you even find a swimming cap for mustaches?" Lance wonders out loud, looking back at his teammate. Keith laughs and Lance keeps looking.

"When it comes to Coran, who knows?" Keith agrees with a slight laugh at the end of his sentence. Despite his words, Lance notices how his eyes sparkle with admiration, conveying just how fond Keith is of Coran. Though when Keith focuses his gaze back on Lance he turns away, making sure he doesn't see the same thing in his eyes.

"Where's Shiro?" Lance quickly asks trying to take his mind off of Keith's soft smile, those eyes that seem to speak to you, and the god damn pony tail that’s the vein of his existence.

"Still asleep I think, I don't even think he knows we landed." Lance hums at his words, looking out into the ocean, feeling at peace. This is what they needed, no saving lives, no responsibilities. Just some space nerds finally relaxing on the beach.

"Come on, Kogane, let's join the chaos." Lance grabs the sleeve of Keith's black T-shirt and pulls him towards the sea, and although he can't see him, Lance knows Keith is rolling his eyes but never the less holds a smile on his face.

 

**

 

Hours have passed and the group, now joined by Shiro, is laying in the grass on a hill in the middle of the small forest closest to the castle. The sun has set and the stars are out and they’re all spread out atop the hill, as scattered as the stars above. Everyone seems to be talking about the day they just had, or even days they had like this one, but Lance is quiet. He stares up at the stars, you can see the old planets remains from the surface of Telforeah. They’re blocking his view almost like clouds blocking the sun, and Lance couldn't tell you why it irritates him so much. Just like their current view, their day had been almost perfect - Allura said they'd all spend the day lounging before Coran would start fixing the teladov and they'd start searching for food they could use in the castle because really, anything would’ve been better than the food goo they currently had. Lance thinks Hunks still a little weary of it anyway, he would cautiously weave around the kitchen never taking his eyes off the food nozzle, always muttering ‘good, alien devil goo’ as he poured some out.

"Lance, are you alright?" Lance jumps a little at his name, the sudden noise so loud in his ears despite Keith's voice being so hushed. He knows he has been acting weird lately, but he can't help it. He thought the fact that earth was so familiar to this weird planet would help fix his homesickness, but if anything, it just made it worse. He just ended up getting mad at things that were different about the planet rather than enjoying the beauty it really held. But obviously, he can't tell Keith all that.

"This place is like Earth," it’s all he says with a sigh; Keith nods his head and looks up to the sky, mirroring Lance’s actions. He puts an arm behind his head letting the arm closest to Lance fall between them, brushing with his with the action. Lance would be a dirty dirty liar if he said he didn’t freeze up, hiding the nasty groan deep within his throat.

"It is," Keith agrees next to him, which to be quite honest Lance isn't sure how it came to be. Keith agreeing with him? Magic. When did he get beside him anyway, why was he still shaking? 

"But it's not Earth." Lance sighs, frowning at the sky, feeling the hardness of the dirt beneath him, almost willing it to turn into the soft grass of his backyard. He stands up, still frowning at the sky. He turns to the group, only to find them already looking at him through the darkness surrounding them.

"I'm heading to bed, I'll meet you guys back at the castle," Lance speaks into the darkness at the vague shadows around his friends. Lance turns around but only has the chance to take a step before a loud grunt is heard from behind him.

"Ahh!" The voice winces and Lance is already rushing to crouched down next to a very pained looking Keith. Shiro appears next to him calling his name, but Keith's eyes drift shut until his limp body lays on the grass, slightly being held up by Shiro's arms.

They bring Keith back to the castle of lions and debate putting him into a healing pod until Coran tells them not to. They all look at him like he was a crazy man, wondering why the fuck not, but a smiling Coran promises he'll be okay and that he'll reveal all once Keith has woken up. The mention of Keith waking up is why Shiro agrees, but Lance can tell he’s still worried, he was too.

Around two hours later, the door to the lounge room opens to reveal a smiley Keith. Everyone in the room looks at him, expecting a ‘what happened' or some kind of vocal proof of his state but Keith's smile just grows, which only contributes to worrying everyone a little more. Keith's gaze zones in on Lance, and before he knows what’s happening, Keith’s straddling his lap and moving his face very close to Lance’s face that immediately goes red, as he tries to duck out of the way of Keith's lips. Even going as far as having to push his face away, because Keith seems hellbent on kissing him, apparently.

"W-what the?" Is all Lance can squeak out until he's ducking away from Keith's lips again.

"Come on, just one smooch?" Keith bargains, as he tries to push his face past Lance's hand.  
Lance can hear Pidge’s hysterical laughter from the other end of the room, and apparently so does Keith. Without looking back, Keith's off Lance’s lap and hugging Pidge’s unsuspecting head to his chest, as he sways them back and forth, all the while stroking her face.

"Coran, explain," Shiro demands, not even looking up from his hand as it squeezes the bridge of his nose.

"It's quite comical actual-" Coran starts, but is quite literally cut off by Keith petting his obnoxious orange mustache, all the while whispering ‘Coran Coran the gorgeous man.' Looking annoyed now, Coran swats Keith's hands away. A loud gasp is heard and they all look at Allura as she gapes at Keith with wide eyes and her hands over her mouth.

"It couldn't be what I think it is?" She says, leaning forward as she stares at Coran expectantly.

"But it is, Princess." Coran sighs as Keith moves on to latching himself onto Shiro's arm and rubbing his head against it.

"Could you please get to the point," Shiro growls, looking more annoyed as the minutes go on.

"Well if Keith would take off his sweater," Coran begins, and this new kind of very complacent Keith unsurprisingly obeys immediately. "If I'm correct, Keith has been bitten by a Telforean love bug," he speaks with one finger in the air. 

At Coran's words the room goes silent, all heads turn to Keith as he absentmindedly finishes taking off his sweater and looks up and smiles at them all. Coran gestures with his hands for Keith to raise his arm, and without a doubt, there is a huge hideous bug latching onto the under part of Keith's forearm. Keith sees it and shrieks, jumping into Hunks arms, hugging him to what looks like to Lance to be a painful extent, his arms, and legs completely around Hunk as he shoves his arm in the direction of Coran.

"GetitoffGetitoff- GET IT OFF!" Keith shouts as he flings his arm around, Allura and Shiro dodging his movements without breaking a sweat.

"Alright, alright, just wait a tick." Keith stops yelping and stays still for Coran to get a good look at him.

"The Telforean love bug is very ticklish," Coran states, matter of factly, and Lance swears he can hear Pidge snort before he proceeds to tickle this huge black and brown bug, almost the size of Lance's hand. In the blink of the eye, it flops off Keith's arm and into Coran's hand. 

"You got a good meal just now, didn't you, little fella?" Coran blubbers down to the bug as he takes it away to the side of the room, to search for what Lance guesses to be a container. 

He turns his attention back to Keith as he appears to do the same. A knowing smirk finds its way on Keith's face, and Lance can’t help but squirm uncomfortably under the scrutiny. But before he can question the look, Keith is jumping from the couch Hunk, Allura and Shiro are on to the one Lance is currently seated at. Lance tries to catch him but fails miserably - he swears he can already feel a bruise forming at his side. 

He hears Pidge laughing as Shiro asks more about this ‘love bug' that seemed to have taken their teammate and flipped his personality upside down. Although he can hear the conversation, Keith's giggling on top of him causes him to divert his attention. Lance frowns at the boy now laying on him, using his hands to hold himself up on either side of Lance's head. Lance lifts an eyebrow as Keith smiles down at him.

"What are you doing?" Lance asks teasingly, trying to ignore how close they really are.

"You're so pretty it hurts," Keith admits, completely ignoring Lance’s initial question, causing Lance's eyes to widen as he feels the heat climb up from his neck to meet the freckles on his cheeks. Lance can feel a tightness in his chest grow with that heat as it deepens when Keith pushes his face closer to his.

"It makes me want to kiss you." At that, Lance falls in a state of panic.  
Yeah, Keith is pretty hot or whatever and yeah, Lance can feel himself stealing glances at him during training or whatever, but he never let his imagination indulge itself in something so, so unbelievably impossible. They’re rivals, not lovers. 

So then why does Lance feel himself wanting nothing more than to press his lips against Keith's ever enticing ones? 

Almost on cue, Keith's gaze moves to Lance's lips, and without hesitation, he cranes his neck forward to apparently do just that. Feeling too unbalanced to know what to do, or how to feel, Lance crams his eyes shut. Not trying to stop the disaster in motion, but not consenting to it happening either. Neutral, like Switzerland.

Thankfully, Shiro appears and grasps Keith by the collar of his shirt as he lifts him off of Lance. “Not today buddy,” is all he says as he basically pry’s Keith away.

Now free to breathe, Lance rubs the back of his neck with his hand as he sits up more straightly. What the fuck just happened, Lance thinks and decides to just push the whole experience to the back of his mind, not before glancing gratefully at Shiro, who’s dragging Keith away to his room. The others seem unfazed by what just happened, but despite his decision to forgive and forget, Lance can’t help but feeling dizzy from how hard his heart is pounding in his chest.

 

**

 

Lance rolls around on his bed again, his usually easy sleep just not seeming to come today as he tosses and turns. Finally, he decides to rest on his back as he stares up at the ceiling. 

Lance knows the reason is that he can’t stop thinking about Keith, but who wouldn't after what just went down? Who would believe his introverted, totally isolated teammate would just sprawl himself all over, well, everything? Especially him, like what was that about? 

He’s nursing a pretty bad headache, which he hates because just thinking that reminds him of Keith. Suddenly hit by a thought, he turns to his side with a groan and blushes incredibly hard into his hands. What would have happened if Shiro didn't pull Keith away when he did?  
Lance places a hand on his lips as if to try and find a trace of Keith there. Why had he been like that? He wonders. Keith has been bitten by a love bug, sure, but he didn’t try to kiss anyone else in the room. That thought gives Lance a sense of hope he doesn't really want.

Lance knows he likes Keith, by now. Hell, he’s known for a long time. You could say it dates way back, since when they were at the Garrison together, even if that came to a halting stop once Keith got kicked out. But here he is again, suppressing his feelings into that deep dark part of him to never be seen again. This feeling just started to resurface the minute he saw Keith again - he remembers just running towards him, spouting some rival nonsense to Pidge and Hunk as he raced towards the boy he didn't know he wanted to see so bad. 

Lance had come up with that rival thing back when the two were going to school together. He thought it would not only give him a reason to be around him but an excuse for how he felt. 

He rolls around some more, burying his body under the covers provided as he curls into himself. He has always looked at Keith, in the type of envy you can't explain. The type where you hate that they're good at everything, but still want them to do better. Lance loves how Keith is just good at everything he puts his mind to, and at the same time it infuriates him that he feels that way.

Growing up the thought of liking boys never occurred to him, until his oldest sister came out when he was eleven. He remembers asking her how she could like girls when she was one. She had said, anyone can like anyone. That love is love and genders didn't change that. As a kid, he thought it was super cool of her, but he didn't really understand it until he started liking Keith. He liked girls before, but once he felt himself wanting to touch him, or hug him, to help him when he struggled and hold his hand, is when he knew he liked Keith. Lance sighs at the memories and tries to will sleep to envelop him like his covers had.

 

**

 

His head seems to have set aside those pining feelings, and Lance feels himself finally start to drift off, until- three unmistakable knocks sound at his door. Lance shuts his eyes tight, hoping the disturbance will find something more interesting and leave him alone to sleep. For a second Lance thinks his wish he’s being granted, but soon enough, something, or rather someone, knocks again. Lance groans, begrudgingly gets out of bed and walks towards the door, eyes half closed both in sleep and annoyance.

"What could anyone possibly want at this-" Lance starts, but draws out his sentence towards the end at the sight of Keith literally vibrating in front of him. He looks up, and Lance almost clutches his heart at the sight he makes. 

Without a word, Keith launches himself at Lance, causing the two to crash to the ground, Lance going down first, despite the tentative of grabbing onto Keith's hips for stability. The two land with a loud thud on the floor of Lance’s room. Looking up, the Cuban boy frowns when he catches Keith's eye.

"What's wrong?" Lance asks, allowing the concern he feels too numb the pain in his butt and back even a little - it’s already the second rough landing involving Keith that day, he can’t help but note. 

He strains his neck to look down at the bundle in his arms, both his arms around Lance's torso and face buried in his pajama shirt. Lance cautiously puts a hand on the boys back when he doesn't get an answer, sitting them both up in the process. 

"Hey Keith, what is it?" Lance whispers all evidence of sleepiness or annoyance long gone.  
Keith just shakes his buried face like a pouting child. Lance would be lying if he said the sight didn't warm his heart just a little. 

"Come on Keith, tell me what's wrong." Lance pries, further pushing Keith away from his chest to look into his eyes but failing when Keith refuses to look up. He hears Keith mutter something but completely misses the message. 

"What was that?" Lance asks, a small smile on his face - it’s like talking to a child. Although a very stubborn, adorable one, at that.

"Ugh, I said." Keith barks finally, lifting his eyes to meet Lances only for his words to fall short. Lance finds himself staring into the depth that is Keith's eyes yet again - but this time, they’re staring back. 

"I, ugh, I said- If I were to look at you-" Keith says as his eyes flicker to Lance's lips then back. It's then that Lance notices their closeness, and pushes against every fiber in him telling him to run to a safe corner. "I'd only want to-" Keith's voice falls as he looks back down at Lance's lips, this time not looking away. Lance feels Keith inching ever so closer, his breath tickling his mouth and sending shivers through his entire body. 

He knows it’s probably just the bug bite, and that it’s a stupid thing to do, but he has no intention to back down now. He just can’t.

When Keith presses their lips together, both their eyes flutter shut. Lance breathes into the kiss through his nose, his chest rising with it to ever so gently press against Keith's. Like a drug, he gets high on the feeling of Keith's lips moving with his.  
Lance can feel Keith, still sitting in his lap, gripping onto the sides of his shirt and it drives him nuts. He moans into Keith's mouth before nibbling at his lip in protest. 

When they break away, Lance is out of breath, but Keith keeps at it. He kisses along Lance's jaw, causing an unearthly sound to escape his lips, only to proceed trailing sucks and bites along his neck, his jaw, his Adam's apple until Lance is laying back on the floor. Eyes shut, back arching into Keith's touch. 

Keith pulls at Lance's top, and before he can stop himself Lance is helping him, lifting it over his head. Keith sits back on his heels doing the same, and Lance watches the dips in his stomach, or how his ribs poke out while he’s stretching. 

Shirtless, laying on the honestly freezing floor, the two boys can finally feel the warmth of each other’s skin, and Lance is a mess. His heart is pounding so hard in his chest he fears he'll break a rib, mind fuzzy with only thoughts of Keith. Lance’s arm is around Keith’s waist and another at the base of his neck, but Keith is touching all over, setting Lance’s entire body on fire.

It's when he feels Keith grind their hips together that Lance freezes. Keith kisses his neck again, making Lance feel good enough to make him forget until he does it again. This time slower, causing Lance's eyes to roll back before they shoot open, his face the definition of crimson. 

Keith trails little kisses along his neck, then to his chest, increasingly getting lower. As he does this Lance starts to panic, all fuzziness gone and full on fear taking over. A kiss lands right under Lance’s belly button, just above the elastic of his sweatpants, and Lance arches his back at the soft contact to the sensitive spot, biting his lips to prevent any unwanted sounds to break free.  
Keith takes this opportunity to slide Lance’s sweatpants off - but just as Keith is reaching for the top of his boxers, Lance scoots away, kicking off the sweats in the process. His heart is beating so fast he has to put a hand on his chest to try and calm it. 

Lance stares at Keith for a long time then, eyes wide and filled with shock and dismay. He’s now sitting in the corner of his room, just watching, almost expecting Keith to disappear and for him to wake up sweaty and in his bed. Keith speaks up first.

"What is it?" He says, letting out a breath as he sits back on his heels.

"What is it?" Lance echoes, he whisper-shouts like someone might hear. "You- you were gonna-" he breathes in, trying to calm his nerves "were about to," Lance stutters out, glancing at the boy then at his sweat pants and gestures to them like it will make things clear. Keith just nods, apparently unbothered.

"Yeah, so?" he shrugs, putting his hands on the ground as to be on all fours, which is somewhat disturbing.

"S-so, you can't just do that to a guy out of nowhere. Whatever h-happened to consent?" Lance resorts to babbling, as Keith creeps towards him, looking at Lance like he was prey. He kind of feels like prey.

"You didn't seem to need to be asked when we were making out?" Keith smirks with his words, sending shivers up and down Lance’s spine. He places a hand on either side of him, effectively trapping him, and leans forward. "Tell me you don't want me to?" Keith’s tone is almost pleading, his gaze dangerous. Despite it, despite getting maybe a little too overboard, Lance has gained enough sense to know what’s right.

"Stop this. You know it's just that stupid love bug that's toying with you," Lance barks, with more conviction that he really feels, trying to hide his own dread and uncertainty. Keith's smirk drops from his face as he sits back. He frowns as he looks Lance right in his eyes, almost as if he’s looking through him, or trying to. 

"Keith, you know you don't want this, n-none of it." At his words, almost like pulling a switch, the boy's features morph themselves into rage filled ones.

"How do you know that?" Keith shoots back, hurt and anguish lacing his words, the type of hurt that shakes Lance to his bones.

"Because you got bitten, and the name clearly implies that-" He starts, trying to sound reasonable but failing miserably.

"What if this is how I feel and the bite is just intensifying it? Huh? How do you know this isn't what I want?" Keith shouts, and Lance’s eyes go wide at the possibility. The thought hadn't crossed his mind, that Keith maybe wanted all this.

"Do you?" Lance bargains - he knows which answer he's hoping for, but he’s not thinking about sex. He’s thinking about the option of Keith loving him back, one that he’s never even considered.

"Well, obviously!" Keith replies almost instantly, causing Lance to gape. He wouldn’t have expected such a straightforward answer.

"Y-you feel that way, about-" Lance starts, looking at the boy in front of him for a hint of dishonesty. Lance lets himself hope before actually starting to use his head. With so many gears in motion, his headache can only worsen, which really sucks. But- no, no this is the Fucking Bug. No matter that Keith actually looks and sounds coherent enough, who knows how fucked up that damn thing made his head.  
"No, you're only acting this way because of the love bug," Lance decides, finality heavy in his tone. He’s just projecting his feelings. He stares at the tiles of the floor for a moment. It makes sense, he thinks. Keith would never be interested in him that way, this is all that bug bite making him all wonky.

"Lance, please, can't we just go back to what we were doing?" Keith whispers, now leaning forward again, arms on either side of Lance, trapping him once more. "I promise th-"

"No," he says, interrupting Keith's words. "I think you need to leave," he doesn’t look up, eyes tracing the lines separating the tiles, pretending they’re far more interesting than they really are. After a moment of tense silence, Lance looks up to find Keith staring at him, mouth slightly ajar. Keith reaches out for him, tries to touch his face, but Lance shrugs away from the touch.

"Lance, I-" Keith starts, evidently trying to understand why Lance is acting this way.

"Please go." Lance’s voice is just over a whisper, his eyes now looking deep into Keith's. Finally getting the message, Keith backs away slowly before completely getting up and turning to leave. Lance doesn't follow his movements, just keeps staring at the floor.  
Keith opens the door and looks back, only to find Lance still stubbornly looking away. Though not himself, the venom fogging his mind with fabricated jitteriness, Keith can still feel his heart ache as he leaves the room, shutting the door with a soft click behind him.

 

**

 

Lance wakes up on the floor. Not the floor beneath his bed, but curled into a ball in the corner of the room.  
Still groggy and quite frankly sore from his sleeping position, he hobbles more than walks into the adjacent washroom. The neons immediately flicker on from the new motion in the room, causing an aggravated groan to escape him at the sudden light currently enveloping his senses. 

Slowly Lance peels his eyelids open until he’s staring blearily at his own reflection, and man, does he look like shit. He puts his hands on the counter and pushes his face real close to the mirror, unable to see without his glasses. 

His eyes are red and puffy, there are quite heavy bags under his eyes, and his hair looks like someone’s run their hands through it one too many times. Which someone has. Damn. His eyes drift to a dark stain around his neck, only to find three love bites spotting his skin, glaring mockingly at him. He sighs deeply. 

He remembered immediately after waking up what transpired that night from his sleeping spot alone. He rubs his face up and down vigorously before turning the water on and splashing some of it on his face, pushing his fingers into his eye sockets. He sighs again, filling his lungs until they hurt, then breathes out a shaky breath. Why'd this happen now? He had just started to accept his feelings for Keith, then this was pushed in his face, toying with his emotions.

After a brisk shower, the boiling water heating his skin and melting his tense joints, Lance gets out and changes into his clothes, making sure to remember to zip up his favorite sweater and put on the hood, in a lame attempt to hide Keith's marks. 

Since they’re in space, it's hard for anyone to have a proper sleep schedule without sunlight to section their hours into days. Allura had Coran to set a sort of light around the castle that followed a basic day on earth, getting dark around the night time and light during the day. Lance hates it. It’s not easy to tell whether it’s morning or day, plus his room doesn't have this feature so it always feels as if he’s waking up during the night. 

The lights in the hall outside his room aren't super bright, so Lance assumes he woke up kind of early, but as he approaches the kitchen to grab some food, he notices the light in there is already on. Lance peers inside the room curiously, but at the sound of his name, he turns away, hiding behind the wall.

"So, you're saying Keith has romantic feelings for Lance?" A voice that sounds like Shiro's is saying from somewhere in the kitchen. Lance’s jaw drops a little. As he turns away from the door, every voice inside him screams that Keith would never, that he’s surely misunderstood.

"To some extent yes, that's why Keith's been extra attached to Lance." Coran's voice whispers back in a serious tone Lance isn't used to. "The love bug from Telforeah amplifies any positive emotion felt by its feed. In the animal kingdom, these bugs usually just cause more mating amongst whatever they bite. But with sentient beings, it causes all love and admiration to come spilling out in buckets." Coran’s voice goes on.  
Lance, though, is fidgeting. He places his hands on his either side of his head as he pulls at his hair, his mind racing with too many emotions and questions as he paces the hallway as quietly as possible.

"Are you telling me Keith loves Lance?" Shiro blurts, sounding quite hurt. At these words, Lance stops moving and lays his back against the cool wall separating him from the two talking in the kitchen, inching towards the door. "And he didn't tell me?" Shiro whispers the last part, Lance hardly catching it. 

He places a hand on his chest and tilts his head back, squeezes his eyes shut and tries to get his lungs to work again. There’s too many emotions to sort through. Keith likes him back. He thinks? Coran said so. But how are you even supposed to feel when you've been pushing and concealing your feelings for so long, all for it to come spilling out at the mention that the boy you like may correspond your feelings? Lance feels like screaming and crying all at once.

"I don't think so, probably not." Coran rushes the words out to soothe Shiro's apparent anguish. "Seeing as the bug takes any feeling of love and multiplies it, if Keith truly loved Lance it would be far more overbearing than what Keith's state is at now." Coran pauses, and Lance holds his breath automatically. "I merely think Keith likes Lance romantically, even if just a little bit. All I'm saying is Keith seems to care about Lance more than he lets on." 

Lance lets out his breath and blinks a couple times. It's there, he thinks. He might not like him a whole lot, or as much as Lance likes him, but Keith liking him is there. Lance opens his eyes and breathes deeply another time before walking away from the kitchen that holds Shiro and Coran. He suddenly has no appetite, not when he feels so full inside.

 

**

 

Lance puts his left arm over his forehead to shade his eyes from the light. It's finally really morning. If Lance were to guess, he'd say around 10 am. He squints at the beautiful scenery that is Telforeah in the morning. He starts to walk in no direction in particular, Lance thinks back to last night for what might have been the hundredth time that morning.

He started the day feeling bad for himself but soon realized what he did was so, so wrong. He just couldn’t help himself, he had been waiting for an opportunity to kiss Keith for far to long, only for some stupid bug to ruin it. But Lance knew that was no excuse, he’d already vowed to apologize to Keith once he returned to normal. He already had the conversation in his mind, he’d apologize immensely for taking advantage of him, and if Keith forgave him, he’d spill the beans. He’d tell Keith how he felt, he swore he would.

Despite it all, Lance starts to feel somewhat at peace with himself, finally not at war with his feelings. He turns his head towards the forest they were in the previous night and decides to take a walk through it. He remembers last night when the sun was just starting to set, how the trees radiated with a dim blue-ish indigo color, turning a possibly scary forest into a sort of magical wonderland. Glowing red flower plants litters the floor, Lance remembers Keith saying how they looked like fire. Bright yellow fireflies danced all around them as they walked farther into the forest. The trees held vibrant green leaves that when touched would light up. 

This forest was the type that made you question reality, the wind would blow like a song causing the leaves of the trees to brush against one another and at that moment you'd forget it was even nightfall with all the light it naturally produced. 

But now, as Lance walks through the forest it almost feels like it has been a dream. Like the forest he’s walking through right now is simple and almost seems dead. Like it truly awakens only once the sun is down. Nothing glows, there isn't even a breeze. Almost as if the forest is frozen in time.

Finally, Lance comes across the open field with the hill they laid on last night. To his surprise, he finds Keith laying on it, seemingly having had the same idea as him. Despite himself, Lance walks up the hill until he’s standing over him with a raised eyebrow. Keith has his eyes closed, but he’s now frowning at Lance's silhouette shading his face from the sun.

"Mr. Sun, where’d you go?" Keith says in a whiny voice as he sits back on his arms, opening his eyes.

"Sorry, am I interrupting a bonding moment?" Lance comments from above Keith as he stares down at him, not even trying to stop the smile as it stretches its way onto Lance's face.

"Nah, forget it," is the only reply, as Keith jumps up and wraps his arms around Lance's neck. Lance just keeps smiling and places his hands on Keith's waist, then frowns. 

“Keith, about last night in my room.” Lance starts, taking his hands from Keith’s waist to pull the hands from around his neck. A frown taking over both boys features. Keith’s eye brows frown and he tilts his head to the side. Man, his fuckers gonna kill me one of these days, Lance thinks to himself as he looks at the adorable sight before him.

“What happened last night?” Keith asks as confused as ever, and despite the cute look Lance can’t help but frown at his words.

“What do you mean? You were in my room last night remember.” Lance tries, pushing for the memory of that night to float backing into the boys head. He takes a step back to look at Keith from a wider angle.

“I was in your room last night.” Keith’s eyes widen with a childish sort of envy like another kid just got the toy he wanted. “Lucky me.” Lance’s mind is racing, he had forgotten the encounter completely? What the fuck? Lance is snapped out of it when he feels Keith latch onto his arm.

"I missed you, sharpshooter." Keith grins up at him, and it warms his heart until his whole body feels hot.

"Sharp shooter?" Lance echoes, a little put off. When had they hit the nickname stage?

"Yeah, because you're smart and you shoot with your gun Bayard, duh," Keith states matter of factly before pulling Lance back down to sit with him in the grass. There’s a sort of childish happiness in his eyes, and Lance doesn't find it in himself to question it. 

They lay in the grass, hugging and leaning on each other as they just stare up at the sky.  
And if Keith tries to kiss him a few times, what does that matter? Lance won’t let him, not yet. Not while he’s still figuring out what’s going on. Not till the effects of the bug are gone, then he’d get the real Keith back Then they’d kiss and cuddle and lay on their back on top of hills, staring at the drifting clouds. Lance pushes all worrying thoughts to the back of his head, whatever happens from this point on happens. In the end, he just sits next to him, enjoying Keith’s company for fear of losing it forever. As they lay on a hill in a frozen forest.

 

**

 

The day passes by fairly uneventful. Coran and Pidge spend it fixing the teludav, and according to Pidge cleaning Coran's sweat from literally every surface. Allura and the mice do small repairs around the castle like cleaning and checking all the control wires to make sure they’re all in order. Shiro decides all their lions need to be cleaned, saying how they'd appreciate it. Hunk goes along, saying something along the lines of “giant kitty bath!” 

This leaves Lance and Keith to search the planet for edible food, with a list of the planets safe and unsafe berries and plants. They actually mix two of the plants up and Hunk finds out the hard way, by having a hilariously high pitched voice for half an hour. In the end, it could’ve gone much worse than that. Hunk still demands they taste-test every other ingredient themselves for the next two hours.

"The Teludav is almost completely fixed, princess," Coran says as he walks into the lounge room, Pidge tailing behind him. "There's just some re-calibrating that needs to be done before we’re ready to take off," he tells that last bit more to Shiro than to Allura, probably to assure him that they'll be leaving soon.

"That's great, Coran. I think besides Keith's bug bite this small trip has been a major success. We got a lot done today and managed to relax for the first time in awhile. Good job, paladins." The princess says, summing up their time in Telforeah.

"Relax? Hunk nearly gave me a heart attack when he squeaked in my ear," Shiro states, referencing when Hunk ate the bad berries him and Keith picked.

"It's not my fault! Lance and Keith picked some messed up berries. I was freaking out, okay?!" Hunk explains, defending the small panic attack he had after discovering his voice had changed. Lance laughs at the memory, smiling at his friend.

"Hunk, nobody told you to eat them, we were gonna run them past Coran before eating any," Lance argues, defending his berry picking skills while laughing at Hunk’s misfortune. He looks down towards Keith to see if he's smiling too. He has been curled up on Lances lap since he sat down, and is uncharacteristically quiet, at least for a Keith under the influence of the love bite. Lance frowns when he sees Keith isn’t even listening, just staring at nothing in particular.

"Hey, it was the first time I've seen a berry in a long time. Sure, it was orange and triangle shaped, but anything's better than food goo," Hunk says, earning a laugh from almost everyone in the room - Lance is still looking at Keith with a worried expression. He places a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up and give him a soft smile, the one that makes his heart melt. 

Just to be sure, he still mouths an ‘you alright' at Keith. They’ve been inseparable since that morning. All day, Keith has been clinging to Lance, occasionally Shiro or Hunk. He even bowed at Allura before hugging her tight, and it warms Lance's heart to see him being so uncharacteristically open with everyone. He knows it won't last long - Coran said the bite’s effects will wear off around the end of the day, but Lance has allowed himself to bask in it while he can, with some boundaries of course. He’ll think about the rest later, though he hasn’t been able to shake that awful thought that drifted into his head that morning on the hill.

Just as Keith is nodding to confirm that he’s alright, he freezes, and releases a blood curdling scream, Lance is too surprised to react. Keith rises up, arches his back, pressing their chests together with a pained expression, his entire body tense on Lance’s lap. Lance can’t do anything but watch as Shiro rushes to his side followed by the rest of them - he distantly hears Coran say that the bug's venom is starting to leave Keith’s system, that it’s a painful process, but fortunately without side effects.  
Despite it, Lance can't pry his eyes off Keith, as the boy grips Lance's shirt and squeezes his eyes closed until his entire face is scrunched up. He feels Keith's knees dig into his side and his hot breath through his shirt as he tries far too hard to breathe. 

For Lance, the toughest thing is knowing that he can’t do anything but helplessly watch.

 

**

 

The castle has left the beautiful Planet that is Telforeah and is now drifting peacefully somewhere in space.  
Pidge is trying to pinpoint the exact location of the Blade of Marmora's base from the coordinates she pulled from Shiro's arm, Allura’s flying the ship, and Hunk is making lunch but Lance - Lance is pacing. 

He’s inside Keith's room walking back and forth beside the bed - he had been lying with him for a while but the weight of his heavy limbs kept reminding him of a dead body so now? Now he's pacing. It's been three hours since the venom started to leave his body and it’s starting to scare Lance how long he's been asleep. Just as he’s considering (again) if he should send for Coran or put Keith in the healing pod, he hears a groan.

"Ugh, what the hell?" Keith mumbles, still half asleep, as he sits up and rubs his eyes. Lance runs to the side of the bed and crouches in front of it, sighing in relief.

"Oh my god Keith, thank god you're awake." Lance gushes, closing his eyes and dragging a hand up and down his face to try and get rid of any worry it holds.

"Lance, what the hell are you doing in my room?" He hears Keith yell, a trace of fear in his voice. Ignoring the over the top reaction, Lance yawns and places a hand on Keith's, leaning forward to smile down at his crush. Keith's eyes widen as his cheeks redden, he looks down at their hands then up at Lance in confusion but doesn't pull away. Lance scrunches up his nose.

"I was worried about you," Lance says, almost as if it were obvious. Keith just blushes more before pulling his hand free and scratching at the back of his neck. His bottom lip between his teeth as he stares at the wall next to him. Worry starts to take over Lance’s whole body.  
"Oh god, what happened? What'd I say to you?" Keith asks, now looking back at Lance, still red in the face and hair a mess from just waking up. Realization crashes into Lance like a typhoon. He stands up and backs away from Keith's bed. Just as he fucking thought, he knew it was coming but hoped anyway.

"You don't remember anything," he states, more than ask "Do you?" Lance takes another step back as he stares at Keith, but his eyes are unfocused like he’s remembering a sad dream. Keith shakes his head.

"No, should I? What happened?" he inquires, his eyebrows furrowing at Lance as he backs away.

"N-nothing happened," he lies, and oh what a lie that is. "Some bug bit you and you were passed out all day," Lance says, stepping even closer towards the door of Keith's room. He has to get out of there, now, before he breaks down. "We're, oh, we’re getting close to the Blade of Marmora's base so- um, shower and get changed. Meet us on the main deck when you’re ready." 

Keith's eyes widen at Lance's words, but Lance has not intention of sticking around to find out why. He slips out Keith's bedroom door and shuts it behind him before rushing towards his own. There isn't a word in the dictionary to describe how stupid Lance feels. He slams his door shut and leans against it, bangs his head against the hard metal of it until he feels dizzy before sliding down to sit against the cold metal. How fucking ironic, he totally fell for Keith. Well, harder than before, at least - only for the asshole to forget to the whole damn thing. He knew he would, after that moment on the hill the thought had been plaguing his mind nonstop, but still, he refused to believe it’d really come to pass.

Lance laughs at the thought. He was going to tell Keith how he felt about him once he woke up, that's why he stuck around in his room. Why he was pacing in the first place - sure, he was worried, he was really worried, but he knew it'd be alright in the end, and it was. Keith just has no memory of how he made Lance feel, which tares him up inside. I guess he deserved this, he shouldn’t have taken advantage of Keith when he did, and now he’s paying for it. Who knows if Keith would have forgiven him, if he even deserved to be forgiven. Lance sighs, he knows he fucked up bad, that he could have handled the situation better, could have done things differently. But he didn’t, and he was starting to piss himself off for it. He gives himself five minutes, five minutes to cry his eyes out against the door, on the floor of his room.

After those five minutes passed, he gets up. He splashes some water on his face, gives himself a quite empowering pep talk, and marches out of his room. His head held high but dragging his heart on the floor.  
That's what his sister taught him, to give yourself five minutes to yell, or punch, or cry your eyes out. But once those five minutes pass, you pick yourself up again and hold your head high. 

He walks onto the main deck with a smile on his face, not meaning it but holding it strong. He tells the others that Keith remembers nothing of the love bite and to please hold the facade, that it’s what he wants. No matter how many times they press him to tell Keith what happened on Telforeah, Lance shakes his head and insists they keep it secret. 

Once Keith walks in, he inevitably asks about the trip, but everyone just repeats what Lance has said. He’ll thank them later.  
It’s actually ironic how quickly it is for the topic to move on. While the others talk about their future plans, Lance steals one last glance at Keith before coming to a conclusion. 

He'll make Keith fall for him, without the aid of some stupid love bug. He'll do it, whatever it takes. This time, he'll be the one to make Keith fall in love.


End file.
